Brunswick crime: Jack Whitelaw pleads guilty to sexual offences

A Brunswick man sexually assaulted a supermarket worker who months later saw him punch a mum in the face, a court has heard.

A supermarket worker who was sexually assaulted by a Brunswick man while stacking shelves caught her attacker punching a mum months later, a court has heard.

Jack Whitelaw, 28, pleaded guilty to charges including sexual assault in the Shepparton Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

The court heard Whitelaw grabbed a 21-year-old supermarket worker’s buttocks while she was stacking shelves at a Brunswick store in November last year.

Whitelaw groped the woman as she bent down to pick up stock from a pallet.

She turned around and confronted him but he verbally abused and laughed at her.

On January 6 this year, Whitelaw’s victim saw him punch the mother of one of his former classmates in the head while she walked along Sydney Rd.

The woman was walking with her friend when the trio crossed paths.

When Whitelaw was about 10m away from his victim he began to verbally abuse her and threaten to kill her son.

“Next time I see your son, I’m going to kill him,” Whitelaw said.

Whitelaw punched the woman in the side of the head causing her to stumble into the gutter.

The woman of the second sexual assault was on the back of a motorbike that pulled up to stop alongside to make sure the latest victim was okay.

Defence lawyer Allie Sutherland said her client had suffered a “stark deterioration” of his mental health at the time of the offending.

He has since been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders.

Whitelaw spent 45 days in custody over his offending and has been in hospital since he was released.

He was placed on an undertaking of good behaviour.

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